You’re a black belt in BJJ; congratulations. You’ve worked extremely hard for this moment. Imagine how many trainees never attain the blue belt, let alone the black one. But you’ve made it.
This article will describe everything you need to know on your way forward. Of course, you want to ensure you focus on the right things if you wish to continue your BJJ journey appropriately. But your journey is far from over if that’s what you suppose.
The BJJ black belt is a sign of mastery. You can combine all the pieces to create your unique style eventually. You know to use the dominant positions, such as side control, open and closed guards, and full mount, to finish your opponent with many submissions, such as the Triangle and Guillotine Chokes.
The complete puzzle is a BJJ black belt’s most beloved attribute (which we’ll discuss in the following part). You’ve been learning Jiu-Jitsu for a while now and learned different parts of the puzzle that is this beautiful martial art.
Now, when you’re in the black belt, you can complete the puzzle by combining everything you have learned thus far. Moreover, you do so while having a unique fighting style only you use.
This is what this article will cover:
- Characteristics of a BJJ black belt
- What to focus on
- What’s next for you
- Tips to progress faster
- Q&A
Characteristics of a BJJ black belt
The first part of this article will cover the characteristics of a BJJ black belt. Knowing and understanding this is crucial for the rest of your journey.
Knowing your strong and weak points—will be critical if you want to continue progressing in BJJ.
And understanding what you’re good at—will allow you to continue using these attributes to teach others more suitably.
Alright, that’s enough intro; let’s dive into the first characteristic.
You’ve completed the puzzle
You’ve completed the puzzle. What does that exactly mean, one might ask?
You learn the basics when you’re a white belt. Then, you start combining techniques and learning more techniques and positions when you’re a blue belt. Then, you develop a unique grappling style when you’re a purple belt. And at last, you perfect your fighting style when in the brown belt.
Now you’ve completed the puzzle when you’re a black belt. You have a unique grappling style only you use while having your favorite techniques and positions you’ve mastered. You also know how to combine everything you have learned to finish fights quickly.
Is your journey over? Of course not; you have so much more to learn. That said, you’ve completed the BJJ puzzle, which likely took more than 10 years (it’s a lot!)
I’m a fan of this term (completed the puzzle) because I think it describes black belts precisely. It can be challenging to think of yourself as a master of anything. However, you, indeed are a master of BJJ at this point.
You’re a competent grappler
The 2nd characteristic of BJJ black belts is that they’re competent grapplers. Therefore, you can use what you learned in the BJJ classes in and outside your martial arts gym.
Because you can submit someone in a few seconds (who has never done BJJ), you have a responsibility almost no one has.
You must act to defend people who can’t defend themselves, as you’re a master of using your body to maneuver yourself and your opponents according to your goal.
Let’s say you want to submit someone (in a self-defense situation); you can maneuver yourself to a dominant position, such as the full mount, and control him from there. Do you think your opponent will be happy with that? I think not.
And you’ll be able to defend yourself and others because you know how to maneuver yourself to a dominant position and control your opponent from there.
Although it’s a cliche, please use your power wisely.
You can start to teach
The 3rd characteristic is that you’re a wise teacher now. You’ve probably begun to teach when you were a purple belt. However, you can’t teach a black belt when you’re just a purple belt.
Now, however, the case is different. Others will be eager to learn from you, as you possess knowledge that comes from experience.
And the knowledge that comes from experience is more valuable than knowledge from reading or watching videos.
Other BJJ trainees will start asking you for advice and will ask you to teach them outside training. You want to accept such requests on your terms, of course.
Remain humble, although it can be tempting not to
The 4th characteristic of some BJJ black belts is ego. Your journey is far from over, and you must never forget that.
It’ll be best if you don’t think of yourself as a true master because you are not. You have so much more to learn, and I’m confident in that.
Some of the techniques you use might not be perfect yet. In fact, I guarantee they are not. Therefore, you must always strive to continue learning and figuring out which puzzle you want to complete next.
BJJ masters who have trained for their entire lifetimes admit to not knowing everything. So if people who have invested their whole lives in BJJ still have more to learn, how can you say you know everything?
It can be tempting to let your ego loose. However, it’ll be worth it to stay as humble as possible while continuing to learn and teaching others from your experience.
Tame your ego: it’s trying to hold you back.
You’re a mentally strong fighter
The last attribute BJJ black belts possess is mental toughness. Let’s just that you have likely experienced more physical pain than the average person has.
The feeling when your opponent submits you can be quite a painful experience. Your body has been choked endless times. However, all of these experiences eventually made you stronger.
Now you can endure more physical and mental pain because of the countless training sessions and fights you’ve been through.
Who will tap out sooner, a BJJ white or a black belt? I’m confident that the black belt will endure more physical pain and trust his instincts more, so he’ll inevitably hold on more than the white belt.
This is what mental toughness is about.
Now—let’s move on to the following part: what to focus on as a BJJ black belt:
What to focus on as a BJJ black belt
This will be the more practical part of this article. The following sections are for the trainees who feel lost, which is normal.
You will start to notice that more people look for advice from you – they’ll also want you to teach them specific things or techniques. Should you teach everyone who asks? Or perhaps will it be best to focus on yourself more than others?
This part of the article will answer these questions while giving practical tips on moving forward from your current position.
Alright, let’s dive in.
#1 – Teaching as a way of learning
The first thing you should focus on is teaching as a way of learning. This might sound egotistical, but you want to continue focusing on yourself more than on others.
It can be tempting to let go of your journey as you’ve mastered the art of BJJ. However, there’s so much more for you to learn. Furthermore, there’s a 0% chance you know everything there is to know, as there isn’t a limit to the knowledge of BJJ.
But you also want to continue gaining experience.
Gaining more experience will be your way of giving back to the BJJ community in the future. In addition, you’ll develop a greater sense for Jiu-Jitsu and, thus, be more component in teaching others from experience (the most effective way to teach.)
When you teach, you want to focus on learning with the student. So, if you notice that the trainee has made a mistake, bring it up. Then, the next time you’ll perform the same move, there’s no way you’ll make the same mistake.
The average man learns from their own mistakes: Wise men learn from the mistakes of others.
#2 – Honing your fighting style
The 2nd thing you want to focus on as a BJJ black belt is honing your fighting style. You want to remain unique while maintaining your progression rate. How else can you expect to become a complete grappler?
That’s why you must keep on sparring and competing (which we’ll review in the 5th section of this part.) What point does all your previous training has if you’re not using what you learned and practiced for so long?
You must keep on training, sparring, and competing. Practice and experience are the most appropriate way of seeing more results. You should know that by now.
#3 – Teaching as a way of helping others
The 3rd thing you should focus on as a BJJ black belt is to teach for the sake of helping others. Helping others can be incredibly fulfilling. You’ve worked hard throughout these years to achieve a goal that’s all about you.
Now you can use all that hard work and knowledge to teach and help others grow.
The most satisfying feeling you’ll get in your training isn’t winning a competition or a spar, for most people. Instead, it’s when you help someone learn something new and see their excitement when they win their first roll with it.
You can be a part of that. Spreading the word of BJJ through your teaching skills is entirely possible.
Make one trainee more consistent, dedicated, and eventually reach the black belt, and you’ve done your job.
Not focusing on yourself all the time will also help you remain motivated and consistent in your training. Again, an external purpose is the best way to fuel your motivation tank to full.
#4 – Learning new techniques and moves
So you want to continue teaching others, both as a way of helping others and learning yourself. However, you also want to focus on learning new techniques and moves.
Do that—and you’ll keep your progression rate hot. You must continue learning from different Professors and coaches because everyone has something to teach that you don’t know.
That’ll help you hone your fighting style, as you might find a move or technique suitable to your current grappling style. Then, you add it to your technique roster and might win a competition using it.
You never know when something will be helpful, so you better keep learning.
#5 – Competing
And the last thing you want to focus on is competing. Competitions are a way for you to see how much you’ve progressed. You’ll be facing people whose entire purpose is to beat you.
And the black belt competitive scene isn’t easy. But it’s fierce, and you can be more than proud of yourself if you win in the expert or masters division.
You must compete to hold yourself accountable. But, on the other hand, you can be a talented black belt who reached his pinnacle and now gets complacent. I’m sure that happens to some.
However, you can also be a fierce black belt that wins competitions and gains the respect of his fellow trainees. Getting complacent is easy when you’ve “mastered” the art of BJJ. However, it’ll hold you back and allow others to surpass you, which you want to avoid.
So these are the 5 primary things you want to focus on as a BJJ black belt. I know that focusing on 5 things is a lot. But you want to find your balance according to your current purpose.
Is your current purpose teaching? Then focus on teaching as a way to help others. Is your purpose becoming a better grappler? Then, start training harder for the next tournament. Find your balance, and you’ll fuel your motivation source inside of you.
What’s next for BJJ black belts?
BJJ black belts’ next move should be to continue learning while teaching others. Although they’ve reached the black belt, they have much more to learn, especially regarding their teaching abilities. So, focusing on both teaching and learning should be their main priority.
How many black belt degrees exist in BJJ?
There are 10 black belt degrees in BJJ. The 10th and 9th degrees are reserved for two people, the 10th being the grandmaster and the 9th being his successor. You’ll get the Coral belt when you attain the 7th-degree BJJ black belt, which can take more than 20 years to reach from when reaching your black belt.
How long does it take to attain the BJJ black belt?
Attaining the BJJ black belt can take upward of 10 years. However, it can take much longer than that in various BJJ gyms for different trainees. For instance, a few trainees have attained the black belt after 15 years of vigorous, consistent BJJ training. Likewise, it can be a bit shorter than that for some trainees.
If you want to read about BJJ’s belt ranking system and how long it takes to reach each one, follow this link.
How rare is a BJJ black belt?
About 0.1% of all BJJ trainees (1 out of 1000) attain the mighty black belt. About 10% achieve the blue belt, and about 1% of that 10% stay consistent to earn the black belt. So it’s pretty rare to see BJJ black belts, especially in your typical BJJ gym.
Is getting the BJJ black belt hard?
Getting the BJJ black belt is extremely difficult. About 1 out of 1000 trainees will attain it, so you can imagine how hard it is. In addition, staying consistent and dedicated in your training for upward of 10 years is extremely challenging, something that few people will ever have the honor of reaching.
Final words
Indeed, progressing through the BJJ belts can be fulfilling and keep you hungry for more. However, it can also be frustrating—if it’s your only goal.
Reaching the BJJ black belt can take upward of 10 years. As a result, few trainees ever share the respect of attaining it.
You have to stay as consistent and dedicated in your training. This can be highly challenging for some. But, the challenge is what fuels a specific group of trainees. And if you’re hungry for more because of the challenge, you’re more likely to stick with BJJ and eventually become a master.
And if you want to learn how to stay more consistent in your BJJ journey, follow this link.
Here are other articles you might enjoy reading:
BJJ Belt Ranking System – From White to Black
BJJ Blue Belts: Why They’re DANGEROUS
BJJ Brown Belts: How Dangerous Are They?
BJJ Grandmaster – Who Are the Mysterious Red Belts?